In message , SC Tom writes:

"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in message
...
In message 31,
DanS writes:
[]
And again, going from 32 bit to 64 bit. CPUs with new added
instruction sets and other advances in hardware architecture
can require changes to take advantages of it.
[]
Yes, but _take advantage of_ is the significant phrase. You should
still be able to run existing software (in the case under discussion,
printer drivers); if it doesn't _take advantage of_ the new features,
that's your problem.

If I had a car that could do 200 miles per hour, I would accept that
I might have to pay for access to places where I could take advantage
of that capability; however, I'd be pretty peeved if I _couldn't_
drive it on ordinary roads (and, obviously, I'd accept that I
couldn't do 200 on them).

Sort of a bad analogy; there are plenty of cars that will go 200MPH,
but you can't drive them on regular roads without a lot of
modifications (Nascar racers), and some that wouldn't be legal no
matter what you did to them (drag racers come to mind). But I get your
point :-)

OK - when I said "car", I meant "street legal car", not grand prix
engine-on-wheels (-:! There are plenty of "supercars" that can do a lot
higher speeds than are legal in UK or US (in fact I think hardly any car
on sale today can't exceed those speeds), but are still usable on
ordinary roads. But you got my point, which was that if I bought such a
car, I'd at least expect to be able to use it. So if I buy a super new
computer with the latest OS, I'm more than a bit cross that I can't use
much software and hardware I already own: I don't expect to get the
benefit of all the new whizzy bits of my new machine and OS when running
older hardware and software (though actually I do expect it to do so
somewhat faster than the previous machine), but I do expect to be able
to use it - and I don't see why I shouldn't be able to.

Another car analogy might be one that runs on a special fuel. Now in
that case, I _would_ expect to have to hunt for filling stations that
had that fuel. But that would be like buying a Linux or Mac computer/OS:
I'd know I would have to replace a lot of my software, and I'd know that
from before I bought the new toy.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

.... his charming, bumbling best, a serial monogamist terrified of commitment,
who comes across as a sort of Bertie Wooster but with a measurable IQ. - Barry
Norman on Hugh Grant's persona in certain films, Radio Times 3-9 July 2010